Auto Exposure Metering: With the 5dmkii I shot almost exclusively in manual exposure. The metering varied so much from shot to shot, and AE adjustment was ALWAYS getting moved around with the little spinny wheel. The technical improvements in the metering system definitely transfer into real world improvements. I shot much of this trip on aperture mode and my exposures were much more accurate than I would have hoped for. Also, both of the wheels on the 5dmkiii have a locking mechanism so you will no longer accidentally change your shooting mode OR your exposure balance when shooting with an auto metering setup.

LCD: The screen on the 5dmkii wasn’t bad, but this one is better! The auto brightness works quite well (as long as you don’t put your hand over the sensor) and it is easy to see colors and detail in your shots.

Weather Sealing: I essentially ruined my 5dmkii with sand last spring on Matagorda Island so I was a little wary taking my new camera near sand since It is unlikely I would be able to get my hands on a new one before wedding season. However, I did not need to fear! My desire for getting my shots overcame the fear of ruining my camera and I ended up exposing the camera to more blowing sand than I would have liked. When I got back to camp and opened up all the little doors, not a grain had snuck in. The 5dmkii allowed sand into the memory card and battery compartment a little too easily, but the 5dmkiii’s improved sealing kept all the compartments perfectly clean.

ISO noise: I didn’t do any side by side testing with the old camera, and what I used for my raw editing was the adobe camera raw 6.7 Release Candidate, so it is possible that the raw engine from adobe will improve over time.  Here is my gut impression. The noise level below 1600 ISO is the same or slightly higher than with the old camera. 3200 iso is slightly better, 6400 is at least a full stop better if not 1 1/2 stops better. 12800 is about as noisy as 6400 iso on the 5dmkii, BUT the quality of the grain is much much better with this camera. There is much less banding, and their aren’t really any ugly grain patterns like their was with the old camera. I would definitely feel comfortable using 12800 iso on a wedding day if need be, and I am very happy with the improvements in the quality of the grain/ noise.

Auto Focus: For my take on the much improved AI servo modes you can see my first impression and auto focus tests for the 5d mkiii The long and the short of it is that this camera actually focuses where you point it! My troublesome prime lenses (24 1.4 and 50 1.2) finally focus accurately, and the focusing speed on the 24mm is especially noticeable. There is a lot to be said for the new focusing system. It makes the 5dmkii focus system look about 20 years old, and is a big step up over the 7d system as well. Canon actually decided to put a professional level auto focus system in this camera!

Fit/Feel/Usability: In general, this camera feels more solid than the old one. I’m not positive if that is because it is new (compared to my very tired 5dmkii) or if it is because it is actually built better. There are a handful of new buttons (which are customizable) and TONS of new features. A lot of the features are things that I didn’t know I needed, but are welcome improvements that will make my life better.  One big one that I have been using is the dual card slots. I bought my self a wireless SD card made by eye-fi and have been enjoying shooting directly to my android phone and to our ipad. I am still trying to figure out if I would use this in a professional capacity or just for fun. You have the option to shoot continuously from one memory card to the next, have the cards mirror one another, shoot separate image types to each card, or copy individual files from one card to the next.  Overall Canon did a great job of keeping what was right about the 5dmkii and improving what was wrong. It’s a new camera, but it won’t feel strange if you’re used to the mkii.  Most of the buttons are customizable, and most people will be able to change this camera to have all the same button layouts of the old one.  One thing that changed that I’ll just have to deal with is that they added a dedicated zoom button, and allow you to access zoom through the “set” button, but zooming in and out is done with the top scroll wheel rather than the through + – button on the upper right of the mkii. Just a little thing, but I’m sure others will find something that they were used to being moved or changed.
A couple features that are new that I have enjoyed using – a leveling system (viewfinder and lcd), in camera raw processing, ability to rank/ star images, ability to auto zoom to 100% on to the autofocus point during playback, auto HDR, ability to overlay multiple exposures, a dedicated movie button and a silent shooting mode (live view and traditional shooting mode).

Overall – There are improvements for just about everyone in this camera: better weather sealing for the outdoorsey types, better autofocus for action and event photographers. There is better ISO performance for indoor sports, weddings and events, and better video (for fun or professionals). For all those photographers who scoff at making videos: you should try it out. The quality from these cameras is ridiculous, and video is just a different way to tell a story. Overall, I’m very happy with all the improvements. For those of us who make a living with our cameras it is sometimes hard to decide if a new camera will pay for itself VS hanging on to an older camera. I guess the answer to that would depend on the way you shoot now. If you’re pushing the limits in terms of autofocus (action or shooting wide open primes) and high ISO performance on your mkii , and those are the types of shots your customers want from you than it’s probably worth upgrading from the 5dmkii; the improvements in autofocus and high ISO noise alone make this a worthwhile purchase for me.  If you’re looking to buy your first full frame camera (and money means anything to you) You’ll probably be thrilled to pick up a lightly used 5dmkii for $1500-$2000  less than the new mkiii and be much better off saving your $$ for new lenses or hardrives to hold all the huge raw files you’ll start collecting.

Check out this post for photos from this years south west road trip – all were taken with the new Canon 5d mkIII and edited with adobe camera raw. The editing on these files was really minimal – basic color correction and some sharpening.

~Dan and Karin

Vote for your pick by simply ‘liking’ their picture – voting closes Tuesday Marchl 27th at noon!

Bredlow Family:

Nominated by, Anonymous

Heidi and Bruce have lived in 5 states and two countries. For 7 years they were both on active duty in the Army together. He’s worked in 17 countries and has made over 5 trips to Southwest Asia. Currently they’re in Okinawa, Japan at a forward deployed location and are returning to MN this spring, early summer. They have been in Japan for almost two years and were here during the 3-11-11 earthquake and tsunami. When they return to the states the Heidi and their three boys will stay in MN while Bruce deploys for another year or so in the Middle East. Between the two of them, they’ve served a combined total of over 25 years in the service. It’s what they do as a family and it’s what they love. Yes it’s one of the hardest things they’ve had to do as a family (and continually do), but it also brings them closer together.

Heidi states that, “We put our faith and trust in God and He sees that we get through it in His unique and sometimes crazy way. Winning this would be amazing as Bruce will be deploying again  right away. Should the unexpected happen, it could potentially be our last pictures together. Although I try not to think about it like that.”

Corey and Kim:

Nominated by, Anonymous  {with text}

“The Richest Love is that which lasts through Time Apart to someday be Together.”

Kim states, “I still remember to this day the feeling I had the day Corey left for deployment (September 2008), and the feeling I had when he came home from deployment (April 2009). It’s something that cannot be described easily but just melts your heart to see him leave, and melts your heart to see him come home, safe! Corey and I have been together for 4 1/2 years now and couldn’t be happier. I truly believe that we were meant to meet each other and what we had to deal with from the very beginning of our relationship has made us stronger and a couple, shown us hurdles that we can overcome, and in general just gave us that trust that every relationship needs or continues to find because without it we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Corey was done active in Aug. 2009 and then joined the Navy reserves for a year. He was stationed on the USS Sullivans his entire enlistment and was deployed twice.  Corey and his two brothers are all/have been enlisted in the Navy.

Staff Sergeant Jesse C. Ryan

Nominated by, Erin Ryan

I would like to nominate my husband, Staff Sergeant Jesse C. Ryan.  He is currently on active duty at Ft. Lewis in Washington state.  He has served 3 tours in Iraq in his 11 year career with the U.S. Army, and will most likely be deploying again at the end of this year to Afghanistan.  This is his third duty station in the last 11 years and has spent most of his daughter’s short 7 years of life deployed in the middle east.  He deserves to win this photo session for his sacrifice and love for his country.  Him and his daughter could use this photo session to take some long overdue “Daddy & Daughter” pictures together. They are my whole world, and I wouldn’t trade anything for being a PROUD Army wife. :)

Davina and Mike:

Nomonated by, Andrea Porter

I am nominating Mike and Davina Johnson because they serve in all aspects of their life! Mike works as a police officer for the Hopkins Police Department and Davina is a Registered Nurse at the VA. Not only that, but they both serve the country in the Air Force Reserve. Mike completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan last year and came home last summer just in time to marry his bride :)

Steve and  Andrew  Muhs

Nominated by, Meredith Muhs

It was 31 years ago that my husband, Steve became an active duty Air Force member.  We endured separations, had four kids, 16 different bases, including overseas, our 2 older boys attended 2 different high schools, the youngest son attend 3 different ones and our daughter went to 4, a different base for each of her 4 years in high school…Steve recently retired, but missing the military, he went back into uniform and into teaching high school, and now runs the Jr ROTC program for the 3 Fargo, ND high schools.  My oldest son was obviously raised as a military BRAT…he went on to college and for that last 3 1/2 years has been teaching…you guessed it..HIGH SCHOOL…he has decided to follow in his father’s foot-steps and on March 9th, we became the proud parents of a Navy Sailor….father and son have now switched career paths…and I couldn’t be more proud of my “service men”

Nick Holz and Shannen

Nominated by, Val Holz

My brother is in the National Guard.  He does not know that I am submitting him for this session.  He is currently on his second deployment.  We miss him so much.  He has worked so hard to get where he is at right now.  He asked his amazing girlfriend, Shannen to married him in July 2011.  He left January 2012.  Shannen and him are two amazing people.  I believe they would both enjoy having their picture taken together by two amazing photographers!  I know that they would enjoy some nice pictures for their upcoming wedding.

Porter family

Nominated by, Anonymous

Jeff and his family has served in the military for over 20 years with tours of duty all over the world including the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jared also served a tour of duty in Baghdad for a year.

Jeff (father) is a retired Colonel in the Marines. Jared (oldest) is a former Staff Sergeant in the Army Reserve who served in Iraq. Austin (middle) is a Second Lieutenant in the Marines. Jackson (youngest) is a Private First Class Specialist in the Army Reserve.

It is certainly different than planning where the wedding is taking place – however – as a photographer it is nice to be able to share a bit more in that journey. Oftentimes giving us the chance to recommend some of the fabulous vendors that we have met as well as well as lots of phone conversations : ) But that certainly doesn’t hold us back from having a fabulous time during engagement sessions and on weddings days : )

Without further ado – meet Mike and Sarah – currently living in Chicago while planning their beautiful Graves Hotel wedding in Minneapolis. We had such a great time with you two and are SO looking forward to your September wedding!!

We were really excited for the engagement session – and especially to meet their little pooch : ) Isn’t she a sweetie???

Another fun part of this session was that there was actually a little bit of snow on the ground!! Which is rare this year!!!!

We are super excited for your wedding at the Landmark this year!!

They had a fabulous day filled with lots of love, family, friends and great vendors too!  Shout out to those who were there!

Reception Musicians – The Mark Yannie Swing Band
Flowers - Chanhassen Floral
Ceremony Site – Northwestern College, Roseville MN
Reception Site – Silverwood Park Great Hall, St. Anthony MN
Caterer – Bayview Event Center, Excelsior Mn

Thanks all for the patience!  It has been a busy week  here – so I apologize this is a few days late!!

Here’s the scoop:

Here at DnK We are starting something new during the season of winter.  During the winter months {at least in Minnesota} weddings slow down a bit – so – we thought it would be a great time to feature some fabulous artists from Etsy.com who sell wedding related items!  Each week we are going to feature a new artist and they’ll tell you a bit about who they are/why they do and what they love about weddings – then they are going to GIVEAWAY one of their works of art!

Here’s how it works:

At the end of the blog post you have 3 options - make a separate comment for each one so you can have up to three chances to win!  {Each winner is randomly selected by random.org}

1 – ‘like’ DnK Photography on Facebook {once your a fan – just declare that in your first comment!}

2 – ‘like’ Janine’s Facebook Page {once your a fan – just declare that in your second comment!}

3 – tell us what your favorite product is from Janine’s Etsy Store!!

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit’s spring training week!!! So here we go!  I am so very excited to introduce Janine – of Bottom of the 9th – she makes outstanding decorations sports themed cufflinks!  If you’re like me – you’ll find yourself browsing her site quite a bit!! ; )

How you got started with your Etsy store?

The idea of the baseball cufflinks began when we were deciding on details of our wedding. It was really important to us that the wedding reflected our personalities. This was especially important to me because it is so easy for the groom to get lost in the wedding planning process. We thought it would be a great idea to incorporate our love for baseball into the wedding, one of the ways we decided to do this was with baseball cufflinks as our groomsmen gifts. John is a huge baseball fan, as are his friends. Putting them on Etsy was my idea, an idea which I never expected to catch fire like it did. As a wedding planning bride to be, I frequented Etsy for many wedding items. Now we couldn’t be happier to be part of the Etsy community.

Your favorite thing about weddings?

My favorite thing about weddings is how different couples incorporate different personal touches, like cufflinks. Or old blue fabric cut out into a heart and sewn onto a wedding dress. They are romantic and help to remind everyone that the wedding really is about the two people who are being married.

Janine has offered to giveaway a set of her fabulous cufflinks – perfect to use for a wedding day, night out, being a guest at a wedding or maybe looking really spiffy on game day ; )

Comment below for your chance{s} to win these!!  Contest for the cufflinks ends at NOON on the 22nd of February - winner announced that afternoon. {Wednesday again – give ya an extra day for my tardiness!} Get your name in the mix!!  {Three times!}

Thanks all for the patience!  It has been a busy few weeks since we took a break from giveaways to do our annual “Best of DnK 2011″ contest!!  We’re picking back up with a beautiful head piece by Pris!

Here’s the scoop:

Here at DnK We are starting something new during the season of winter.  During the winter months {at least in Minnesota} weddings slow down a bit – so – we thought it would be a great time to feature some fabulous artists from Etsy.com who sell wedding related items!  Each week we are going to feature a new artist and they’ll tell you a bit about who they are/why they do and what they love about weddings – then they are going to GIVEAWAY one of their works of art!

Here’s how it works:

At the end of the blog post you have 3 options - make a separate comment for each one so you can have up to three chances to win!  {Each winner is randomly selected by random.org}

1 – ‘like’ DnK Photography on Facebook {once your a fan – just declare that in your first comment!}

2 – ‘like’/'friend’ Pris on her Facebook page {once your a fan – just declare that in your second comment!}

3 – tell us what your favorite product is from Pris’ Etsy Store!

So here we go!  I am so very excited to introduce Pris – of Design by Pris – she makes beautiful headpieces, jewelery, accessories and more!
How you got started with your Etsy store/craft of trade?

I still remember how wonderful it was to get all my wedding accessories custom handmade and how important details are for a “dream wedding”; therefore, I would also like to be able to help other brides to create the perfect wedding accessories in the same way I did mine.
I began to design and create handmade hair adornments for brides at Design by Pris on Etsy since February 2010. My studio is a home-based where I usually work on my free time that I have from taking care of my two young children.

Your favorite thing about weddings?
My favorite thing about a wedding is to see a happy moment of two people who want share “one love” forever, to see a beautiful bride and a fine looking groom, to see a smile on their faces, to see their hard work of find all their dream wedding elements come in place to create their wonderful day to remember for a life time.

Pris has offered to giveaway a beautiful veil – perfect as a wedding day veil, groom’s dinner/rehearsal veil, girl’s bachelorette night on the town and more!

Comment below for your chance{s} to win these!!  Contest for the hairpiece ends at NOON on the 31st of January – winner announced that afternoon. Get your name in the mix!!  {Three times!}

Plus! We get a NIGHT AWAY in Duluth!!! Oh that sounds nice!!!  You can vote once per day through mid-end February!

{Just click the picture below!}